Israeli 2018 killings in Gaza may constitute war crimes: UN probe

Palestinian demonstrators run away from Israeli fire and tear gas during a protest at the Gaza fence, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2019. (Photo by Reuters)

A UN Human Rights Council-mandated investigation into Israel's deadly crackdown on the 2018 anti-occupation rallies in the Gaza Strip says the regime’s forces may have perpetrated “war crimes” or “crimes against humanity”in the campaign against Palestinians.

In a statement released on Thursday, Santiago Canton, chair of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said Israeli soldiers have breached international human rights during the Gaza unrest.

“Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity,” the statement read.

Tensions erupted in Gaza in March 30, 2018, which marked the start of a series of protests, dubbed “The Great March of Return,” demanding the right to return for those driven out of their homeland.

The clashes reached their peak on May 14, the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.

The violence left 189 Palestinians dead and more than 6,100 others injured between March 30 and December 31, 2018.